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AFL Daily: Tyson Goldsack to step up training in bid to defy history in quick return from ACL tear
COLLINGWOOD’s Tyson Goldsack will complete two weeks of full training from next week as he aims to complete a miracle recovery from a torn ACL and return to the field just six months after undergoing a knee reconstruction.
TYSON Goldsack will have to defy history to make a five-month recovery from a torn ACL, according to sports medico Peter Larkins.
The Pies plan to throw Goldsack into two weeks of full training next week ahead of a potential VFL return on the week of the AFL’s Round 21. SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL COVERAGE OF ALL THURSDAY’S FOOTY NEWS He tore his ACL in the second week of March, which would put his return date at just on six months. For Goldsack, out of contract and desperate to take part in the Pies finals campaign, it is a risk worth taking. MIRACLE RETURN: GOLDSACK CLOSING IN ON RETURN PIE BLOW: GOLDSACK TEARS ACL But Larkins says the Pies medicos will be well aware that an ACL graft only truly gains strength after nine months or more. Former Melbourne star David Schwarz said he was back in full training in eight weeks after his first ACL, with his knee giving way soon after an 11-week return. “It is quite a vulnerable period from 4-6 months, which is where Tyson is going to be,” Larkins said. “He will roll the dice but the studies show that whatever graft you use has to be converted into an ACL over a period of time. “The process is called ligamentisation. You are converting a tendon into a ligament and it takes that long to strengthen. “I can’t think of the last bloke who came back after doing an ACL in March who didn’t have a LARS. “I get it emotionally what he is trying to do, but it would be in the knowledge that he has a high risk of the graft rupturing. Then he would have to have the surgery done again.” Tony Liberatore made a remarkable 18-week recovery from an ACL, his low centre of gravity and quad strength key factors. He is seen as one out of the box, with the 360 degree nature of AFL putting massive pressure on players’ knees. But surgeon Julian Feller, who operated on Goldsack, said in 2015 that seven months could become a realistic return date for ACL victims. “I don’t think it’ll come back to being a six-month recovery, but it might come back to a situation where nine to 10 months doesn’t seem unusual, and seven or eight seems feasible,” Feller said. “Australia traditionally has been a little bit more conservative than other countries, and we would argue that maybe our game puts greater demands on the knee. “So I think that will take time for people to be confident to do that.” COMPLETE THE SURVEY BELOW AND YOU COULD WIN AFL GRAND FINAL TICKETS Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Originally published as AFL Daily: Tyson Goldsack to step up training in bid to defy history in quick return from ACL tear